Guanteed Acceptance Health Plans – Good or Bad?
Are Guaranteed Acceptance Health Plans Good or Bad?
I have to tell you that I have never been a big fan of any sort of guaranteed acceptance medical plan, or even those mini-med plans that accept more people but have specified benefit levels.
Pros of Guaranteed Acceptance Medical
Takes anybody who can pay the premium (possibly with age restrictions)
Pros of Specified Benefit Mini Meds
Usually takes more people than individual major medical insurance. For instance, some will accept diabetics.
Cost Benefits?
Guaranted Acceptance or Mini Medical Plans are not cheap! Most of the larger guaranteed plans and specified benefits plans will cost as much, or more, than an individual health insurance plan for any coverage that approaches “real health insurance”.
Is it Health Insurance Or Not?
If it doesn’t smell like a pig, it probably isn’t a pig. Sometimes, guaranteed acceptance health plans will be underwritten by insurance companies, and provide some insurance-like benefits. For instance, some plans may offer to pay an amount like $500 a day while a covered person is in the hospital.
Will this hospital benefit keep you from paying lots of money out of pocket if you have to go to the hospital? …probably not. You really need to do some research on the average cost of being in the hospital for a few days before you spend your cash on any sort of medical discount plan even it does advertise that it takes everybody. What they take is everybody’s money!
That $500/day will not do much to defray your $30,000 hospital bill. And what if you need out-patient services later. A $300 – $500 yearly benefit won’t do much for you either. Really.
But is it health insurance? Well a lawyer friend of mine asked me to find out if one advertised plan she could get for $99 a month was really health insurance. That monthly cost seemed a little unrealistic considering she was middle aged and overweight.
Anyway, I called, and I kept asking the customer service rep if the plan was health insurance. I could not get an answer, and as I persisted, his tone turned from friendly to downright nasty! He knew he could getin big trouble if he claimed he was selling health insurance, and yet he knew the sale would be lost if he admitted it was not.
This simple test should raise a red flag in everybody’s mind.
What About Mini Meds?
Now specified benefit plans are allowed to be called medical insurance, though not major medical. They may provide some benefits, but still have limits on payments that are not likely to help much if you run up medical bills. The point is – if you are healthy you are probably better off with major medical health insurance.
If you have some health issues, every US state has a high risk plan you can join. These high risk plans can cost a bit more than a healthy person would pay for medical insurance, but again, larger min-meds are not cheap either!
How to Find Major Medical Insurance In Your City
Go Here: Best Individual Health Insurance Quotes
Also see mini-med vs major medical health insurance.
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